Seventeen
by emiliesimagination
Summary: April 6th or in the Skam fandom more commonly known as Noora's birthday. Gratulerer med dagen Noora. This is part 7 of a the 'After Paradise' Series.


Thanks to a loud banging noise and string of curses Noora jolted awake ten minutes before her alarm was due to go off. Her momentary confusion gave way to a mumbled «fuck» when the clock on her nightstand read 06:30. She groaned and let her head drop back into the pillow. It was just her kind of luck, the one time she actually had a halfway pleasant dream Eskild had the glorious idea of rummaging through the kitchen at half past six in the morning. She huddled the blanket over her head and pressed her arms up to cover her ears. When the noises didn't relent after a minute and the sheet threatened to block out her oxygen supply Noora gave up and tossed the blanket from her body.

There was no use in going back to sleep now and she mentally noted down a speech to properly reprimand Eskild. Half past six, how the hell was he even up right now? At least Linn - the most noise sensitive person Noora had ever encountered - would take her side in this. It was already light outside so she didn't have to bother with finding the light switch to collect her socks and a sweater. Their shared apartment was never properly heated, partly because the rent was already high enough without any additional heating expenses and the bigger reason being that besides her neither Eskild nor Linn cared about turning on the radiators. She made a mental reminder to scold Eskild about that later, she would not spend another winter sleeping with 3 layered blankets.

Dropping back down on the mattress, she pulled on the socks and reached for her buzzing phone. The list of notifications seemed to stretch endlessly when she scrolled down. It took another loud bang from the kitchen for her brain to kick into gear and make sense of spew of unread texts.

The only thing worse than waking up this early was waking up to find it was her birthday.

If she had to pick, April 6th was easily in the top three worse days of the year; right up their with her annual dentist visit and final exam's day. Eying her tousled sheets she considered getting back under her blanket and hiding for the next 24 hours. She was an exemplary student when it came to never skipping a single lesson, so one day wouldn't really hurt anybody, right?

But the thought of her friends disappointed faces if she should really stay home was enough guilt to get her up from the mattress. She rubbed at her eyes and heard the satisfying pop from her vertebras when she turned her head side to side, cracking her neck. She would get through today - for her friends - and who knew, it might not turn out to be as bad as her last few birthdays.

She immediately scratched that flash of optimism when the girls' group text wasn't only filled with a wave of congratulatory messages and hearts but also an already half-formed plan on where they would go out celebrating tonight. She thought about shutting them down right now but besides Sana's text from 10 minutes ago, the rest of the messages had been sent somewhere between midnight and 2 am. It was useless to protest now and it would be more effective in person anyways.

Noora scrolled through the rest of the messages, a few from other people at school and her friends in Spain. Her heart sank when she found her parents' annual message, wishing her well and good luck for the year ahead. She wrote back a curt thank you and did her best to suppress the squirming in her stomach.

The kitchen had quieted down and opening her bedroom door, Noora almost ran face first into Eskild, holding a plate and her favourite mug.

«Oh, what the fuck Eskild?» Noora squeaked and scolded herself for not managing to sound pissed at him whatsoever.

But before she could go off on an angry tirade on how fucking inconsiderate it was to make that much noise in the morning, her eyes caught the plate in his hands, complete with a burning candle sticking slightly off center out of a - no doubt freshly bought - chocolate muffin.

«What …» she started.

«Happy birthday old lady!» he forced the plate into her hand. «I know I know, it's not an actual cake but I promise it tastes good. And we got you your favorite tea and I promise I'll do the groceries and toilet paper today, so you don't have to worry about any of that.»

Noora must have stared at him with a shocked expression because his wide eyes faltered and his brows furrowed in worry. He opened and closed his mouth, apparently trying to figure out where he had gone wrong but before he could say anything she threw her arms around his neck.

The tea that was still in his hand half spilled on her well worn 'I heart Madrid' sweater but she couldn't bring herself to care. Eskild smelled like a mixture of beer and weed and when she pulled back to look at his beaming face his eyes were smaller than usual; she faintly recalled him announcing he would go out last night.

«It's perfect, thank you!» Noora said.

«You like it?» he leaned against the door frame and Linn poked her head out beside him.

«Yes, of course.»

«Okay, okay, you have to blow out the candle and wish for something.» Eskild nodded towards the plate.

She did, even though wishing for everything to stay like it was right now felt incredibly cheesy.

After a few bites of the incredibly sugary muffin and listening to Eskild gush about a tall and dark boy he met at a bar around 4 am she checked her phone again. There were a few new messages in the girl chat but she wasn't entirely sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that William hadn't texted her. If she was lucky he might not even realize her birthday was today; it probably wouldn't end well anyway.

As expected her friends' excitement outdid her own by a mile. Eva and Vilde revealed a box containing a cake drowned in sugary frosting; the slightly squished appearance made her think back to their Harry Potter marathon from three weeks ago at Eva's sleepover. Several people came over between lessons to congratulate her. Sarah and Ingrid gave her a quick hug while Jonas and Isak found her on her way to the bathroom while the rest of the girls had stayed behind in their English classroom; the Penetrator party had been a week ago and Eva and Jonas were still hard set on ignoring each other.

It wasn't unusual for her to not see William or any of his closer friends during her school day as the 3rd years spent most of their breaks smoking and doing god knows what down the street from the B building. She supposed it was a good thing, seeing as the girls refused to leave her side except for separate lessons. This meant, Vilde was a constant shadow and she caught her peeking at her phone multiple times as Noora texted back thank you messages. It would have been easier to ignore her stares if she had indeed had nothing to hide; but she did.

She tried to protest, when Eva puller her into the third floor bathroom minutes before their last lesson for the day but retaliated when her friend gave her a stern look.

«Did Vilde see us?» Eva closed the door and squatted down to check the stalls.

«No, I don't … What's going on?» Noora asked

«You» Eva bore her pointed finger into Noora's shoulder «better pray Vilde doesn't check Instagram in the next 40 minutes.»

«What?» she stared at Eva, who had pursed her lips into a smirk.

«He isn't exactly being subtle.»

Noora tried to retaliate but stopped when Eva's knowing look finally clicked into place. Her stomach dropped. «What did he do?»

Eva was only too eager to puller out her phone and after a few quick swipes presented Noora with William's newest Instagram post - dated 10 minutes ago.

 **magnussonwilliam** Someone deserves flowers today

«Oh fuck» her brows furrowed.

«I was thinking more along the lines of, damn that's the most romantic thing since Leo froze to death for Kate in Titanic.»

«Oh my god, Eva this is not funny.» Noora snatched the phone from her friend's hand and scrolled through the - already 203 - likes. «This is really bad.»

Eva laughed and pulled them both out of the bathroom. «As I said, better hope Vilde doesn't see it.»

Trailing behind Eva to their Spanish class room, her cheeks turned flaming red when a comment from one of the third year girls popped up under the post 'Told you all, he has a girlfriend'.

Eva kept throwing her knowing glances throughout their reading assignment and as if things couldn't get any more awkward the next time her phone buzzed, it was a text from William himself. Seeing Noora's entire head turn into a very unflattering shade of pink Eva almost choked on her own laughter and ignored her unnerved glares.

She turned towards the wall away from Eva and unlocked her phone.

 **William** : pick you up after school?

Noora bit her lip. This was indeed getting worse by the second.

 **Noora** : NO!

 **Noora** : are you insane?

Eva squirmed in the chair beside her, craning her neck to get a look at Noora's phone.

 **William** : ?

 **Noora** : the instagram post, really?

 **William** : Chris agreed it was sweet

She bit her lip to keep from hissing at the display. She'd literally kill him if he told Chris. Not that Eva didn't know more than she deemed appropriate already, but he'd promised to keep it to himself. Her heart was thumping against her throat and her fingers needed several tries to type the find the keys on the screen.

 **Noora** : You told Chris?

 **William** : No … well yes, but he doesn't know it's u

 **Noora** : that's not reassuring whatsoever …

 **William** : I'm sorry, I'll pick you up after school and make it up to you

 **Noora** : No! I'm going to lunch with the girls. I'll text you later!

She didn't bother waiting for his reply before shoving the phone into her backpack. She ignored Eva's raised eyebrows for the rest of the lesson.

Eva's smirk and William's audacity to presume she wouldn't have anything better to do on her birthday than to make out at his apartment made her head boil and the last bell couldn't come soon enough. As if a few lousy flowers would make her forget all the very valid reasons, dating - the word itself seemed absurd in connection with William Magnussen - him was a very unwise choice. Before Eva could even put away her Spanish folder, Noora pushed past the rest of the students into the hallway and down the stairs. To her annoyance she didn't get very far when Vilde blocker her way two corridors down.

Vilde - who was seemingly ignorant of the Instagram post - pulled her out into the yard to wait for the other three. It was just past three o'clock and the yard was filled with students saying goodbye to their friends. Still, she turned her head every few seconds to check if William was anywhere close. Vilde must have noticed her nerves because she found her staring every time she turned to look at her. Sana and Chris caught up with them five minutes later and Eva shook her head at Noora in feigned annoyance.

«Where to for lunch?» Sana prompted before either Eva or Vilde could make another precarious comment.

«It's not Friday, but I was thinking tacos?»

The rest nodded in agreement.

They'd made it past the gate and around the corner when Noora froze mid step and caused Eva to shriek in surprise. William and Chris, both their noses in their phones, leaned against the black Porsche, parked not ten meters from the school corner. At the sudden noise both looked up and Noora collected every last ounce of her self control to ignore the forming smirk on William's lips; knowing just how good it felt kissing them made it all that much harder.

Chris and Sana stayed back and watched the scene unfold while Eva padded Noora's shoulder and didn't quite manage to stifle her giggles. Vilde was beaming and Noora hoped she was too distracted to catch William winking at her. Eva didn't miss it but instead of embarrassing her any further she sauntered up to Chris who licked his lips.

«The party was amazing.» Vilde had positioned herself in front of William. «I hope you got enough donations. The whole auction thing was such a brilliant idea.»

Noora cringed and met William's gaze over Vilde's shoulder. She did her best to narrow her eyes and give him a stern look but the execution didn't succeed when her lips tucked into a traitorous smile. Vilde kept rambling until Sana had the good grace to nudge her along. In one moment that seemed like the perfect movie coincidence, Chris and Eva where distracted with each other and the other three girls already heading down the street. To quick for her to protest William snatched her arm to pull her towards him.

«Happy birthday, text me after lunch!» he was so close to her ear, he barely had to raise his voice.

Noora bit her lip and gave him a nod. His hand squeezed hers before he let her go and turned back to Chris, who had trapped Eva against the car.

Noora had never been the biggest fan of birthdays, so the small mountain of presents her friends pulled out on the table made her heart comfortably warm and her head dizzy. Two books, one lavender scented candle and a box of handpicked sweets laid between the emptied taco baskets. She gave them all a tight hug and for the first time since Noora could remember she was sad when the birthday dinner - technically lunch - was over and they all parted ways. Of course Vilde, Eva and Chris had done their best to persuade her to a party later but she declined and promised to come to the next buss party without any protests.

To avoid any further run-ins she had made William promise to park at least two blocks away. He was again leaning against his car - it was a cool, expensive, but cool car nevertheless.

«Don't ever do that again!» she whispered when he pulled his arms around her and only huffed in reply. His hands rubbed the tension from her back and she relaxed into his tall frame.

«Happy birthday» he pulled back to meet her eyes and she couldn't hold the smile back any longer when his thumb brushed along her cheekbone and he finally placed a quick kiss on her lips. He let go to reach down to lift the modest bouquet of tulips from the hood of his car and offer them to her.

«Thank you.» she intertwined their fingers and he returned her smile.

«I'm sorry about the Instagram post. I can delete it if it bothers you?»

«No, no it's okay.» she cocked her head to peer at him. «I was just a little overwhelmed earlier.» She pulled him down for a longer kiss. They took their time before he opened the passenger side door for her and jumped in beside her.

«Are you up for a proper date?» William flipped his hair back; without the hoodie, it constantly fell back into his eyes and she mustered a smirk when she helped him pull a few strands behind his ear.

«Where the other ones not proper dates?»

«Well, you refused to call them dates.»

«And what makes you think I'll change my mind today?» Noora raised her chin and straightened her spine against the ridiculously soft leather seat.

«Oh good god.» he groaned and she giggled when he reached over to tickle her. «We'll go and then you can decide what you wanna call it afterward, deal?»

«Deal» she grinned and let him pull her over the center console for a kiss.

Granted she was painfully aware of William's disposition to do things that were more than just cliché and bordered on cheesy but he did it in such an endearing way, she couldn't bring herself to dislike him for it - despite what she might tell herself and Eva. Still she had expected him to take her back to his apartment or even the cinema; after all fresh tulips and a surprise 'date' on her birthday seemed romantic enough.

Apparently, she had underestimated him. When he stopped the car after a ten-minute drive through downtown Oslo, the 80% glass building that was the Opera house loomed over them.

«Seriously?» she raised her eyebrows at him. This was maybe the most touristy spot in the whole country, gracing the back of basically all postcards titled 'Oslo'. Though despite the cheesy undertone she couldn't deny that it was breathtakingly beautiful.

William chuckled beside her and when they exited the car, there were only a handful people littered across the building with one or two dragging around big touristy cameras. Sunset was maybe half an hour away and pink and orange tones already reflected in the smooth water.

On instinct she meant to reach for his hand but found him occupied with carrying two blankets and a closed basket; so he offered her his arm instead and she threaded hers through his elbow.

The flats she had chosen this morning definitely weren't the perfect gear for hiking up the opera house but the view from the top was worth her panting lungs and flushed cheeks. William put one blanket on the stone panels and motioned for her to sit while he busied himself with fiddling open the basket. He retrieved two thermos jugs and one small paper container for them each.

«This might really be the most cliché thing you could have done, and that's saying something,» she said while William sat down next to her, close enough for their sides to bump together, and pulled the second blanket over their feet.

«I considered buying you 17 red roses.» his hand traced down her back again. «And a giant teddy bear.»

«I guess, you have a point.» she let her head fall against his chest. «Thank you!»

«Mhm,» he murmured and pulled her closer. His fingers were tracing her shoulder as he massaged the muscles beneath her skin. He brushed against the tops of her collarbones that peaked out under her shirt and then wandered up her throat placing kisses along the sensitive skin next to her pulse. Noora sighed and closed her eyes when he reached her chin. Despite the public location, his touch felt more intimate than the days before. Her skin flared at his touch and her lips craved his. Instead, his fingers teased the corners of her mouth before he placed a peck on the tip of her nose, which made her giggle and pinch his side in revenge.

He gave in and kissed her properly, shallowing the sighs that escaped her mouth. Heat blossomed in her belly and she felt her cheeks flush despite the mild spring breeze. Her finger found his scarp and pushed into his hair while pulled her closer and closer towards him until she practically sat in his lap. When she pulled away after feeling her lungs ache at the loss of oxygen, his eyes were glossed over and he meant to continue their kiss when she gently put her hand on his chest.

«First, hot cacao» Noora smirked and disentangled herself from his lap to reach for the two thermos jugs.

William groaned, flipped back his now tangled hair but took one of the bottles from her. He must have upped the cacao contents in his recipe because when she uncapped hers, the rich chocolate smell took her breath away for a moment. Under different circumstances, she might have waited for it to cool down but the setting sun was dragging the temperatures down with it and she was thankful for the heat spreading through her torso. When she looked up he was watching her intently and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. «It's delicious!»

William, clearly pleased with her reaction, offered her a piece of dark chocolate cake from the paper box and took the other for himself. «I meant to buy you candles as well.»

«It's okay. I think I've blown out enough candles for my next ten birthdays today.»

They ate and drank in silence after that and Noora found herself pressing closer to his chest as they watched a family with three little kids play on the incline. He rubbed her arms and made sure the blanket was tucked around them as the sun disappeared into the golden water. She hummed in content while he played with the ends of her hair. They watched the last flickers of light disappear and neither wanted to move from their position that currently was half a hug and half Noora sitting in his lap. When her fingers grew red and numb from the cold they reluctantly made their way back to his car.

During the drive to her apartment she had to repress the impulse to reach for his face again and instead she traced her finger up and down his free arm. He put the Porsche into park in front of the blue door and they eyed each other for a moment until he reached over to pull her close again. Noora hummed against his lips and decided that there was no superior feeling than kissing William after a cup of hot cocoa. His mouth tasted like the faint reminders of his mint gum and overwhelmingly like the baking chocolate powder he used for her hot cacaos.

It took several angry honks from the car behind his for them to pull apart and she left the car with the promise of calling him tomorrow. When she turned the key to their apartment Eskild was already holding a glass of sparkling wine, clearly more than ready for the next episode of Paradise Hotel. The tulips were put in a vase in her room under Eskild's scrutinizing eyes.

«Your lips are .. ehh a little smeared.» He laughed as Noora scrambled for a mirror to examine her swollen lips and properly tousled hair. William seemingly had a very adverse effect on her usually perfectly put together appearance.

 **Noora** : Thank you for today, you were right it was a proper date!

 **William** : I'm glad, talk tomorrow, good night birthday girl x


End file.
